ADHD and my son

I posted about how my son has SPD. Well, now I want to talk about his ADHD. Eventually, I will move on to his ODD. I've been putting this off for the longest time now, and I'd like to get it finished up and posted. My apologies for slacking.

This drawing represents my son. He's always on the move (hyperactive). My son is driven by a motor. Remember those Energizer Bunny commercials? Yeah, well ... that's my son. Only 100x faster. He goes goes goes goes goes. It's just awful. There ARE different types of ADHD as well. There is:

ADHD predominately inattentive:

• Fails to give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes.
• Has difficulty sustaining attention.
• Does not appear to listen.
• Struggles to follow through on instructions.
• Has difficulty with organization.
• Avoids or dislikes tasks requiring sustained mental effort.
• Loses things.
• Is easily distracted.
• Is forgetful in daily activities.

ADHD predominately hyperactive/impulsive:

• Fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in chair.
• Has difficulty remaining seated.
• Runs about or climbs excessively.
• Difficulty engaging in activities quietly.
• Acts as if driven by a motor.
• Talks excessively.
• Blurts out answers before questions have been completed.
• Difficulty waiting or taking turns.
• Interrupts or intrudes upon others.

And then there's combined, where the individual meets all those criteria listed above. AJ is combined. Every single one of those characteristics is in my boy. He cannot listen, cannot sit still, cannot STAND to not be first in anything- telling daddy good night, brushing his teeth, getting in the car, etc. He shakes his feet/legs when he sits. He constantly bounces between chores/activities because he can't remember what he was doing, or he thinks it's too hard so he just stops doing it. He's constantly climbing the punching bag we have, always running around the house and jumping on the furniture. And so on. It's very hard. Medication is not helping. We're still in the trial and error phase, so we're working on it.

From Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (I am choosing to paste only a bit from that site. Mainly what I feel important, and what pertains to us):

• Parents report that approximately 9.5% or 5.4 million children 4-17 years of age have ever been diagnosed with ADHD, as of 2007.
• The percentage of children with a parent-reported ADHD diagnosis increased by 22% between 2003 and 2007.
• Boys (13.2%) were more likely than girls (5.6%) to have ever been diagnosed with ADHD. The highest rates of parent-reported ADHD diagnosis were noted among children covered by Medicaid and multiracial children. 
• Parents report that children with a history of ADHD are almost 10 times as likely to have difficulties that interfere with friendships (20.6% vs. 2.0%).
• A higher percentage of parents of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder reported non-fatal injuries (4.5% vs. 2.5% for healthy children).

How does that pertain to my son? Or our family in general.
*Well, he has a hard time with keeping friends. Sure, he's well liked for the most part. He's outgoing, and friendly (when he wants to be). But he's not very nice most of the time. Because he's so pushy and has to be first with everything, his friends see his meltdowns. He can't always be first at school. He might always be first at home, but I can't control his 'pecking order' at school. I'm sure he has his melt-downs, and he most likely gets picked on for his tantrums.
*He's ALWAYS getting hurt. Climbing the baby gate to keep Gianna out of the kitchen is usually when he gets hurt. He sits on the gate, it wobbles, and he goes FLYING. He's fallen off of the gate more times in this week that I can count. It happens at least 3 times a day. Usually 3 times in a row. Why he continues to do it makes no sense to me.
*My husband is one of 6 kids. There are 3 boys, and 3 girls. Out of them all, all 3 boys have ADHD, and 2 of the girls have it. I have 2 girls and 1 boy. Only my boy has it.
*Only my husband was diagnosed as an adult. His 4 siblings with ADHD and our son were diagnosed at 5 years old.

ADHD has taken its toll on our family. While I love AJ with all of my heart, he also drives me INSANE. I do not like his behavior. I do not like that he doesn't stay still. I can't stand that he's always on the go. I wish he would just sit still sometimes. Be a normal, 21st century kid- watch TV!!!! But, my son is not that kind of kid. He just has to move around. Unfortunately, it's not the ADHD that is his problem. The problem is his ODD. It's a very tough situation for him. One that he doesn't understand half of the time. It's also, believe it or not, hard for us to understand. Hard for us to remember. We all have dreams of having the perfect child. My son is not perfect. But, he's my son nonetheless.